The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-04-08
An old Hsrmit's Fondness for q Tarto-
Eaten Hulk.

Eaten Hulk.
There is a mysterious fascination in
the condition of an individual living
apart from his fellow-beings, says The
cincinnati Euq"u6y. The motives
which lead certain temperaments to
seek scclusion from their kind are var
Ious. la the case of Captain Stephen
Price it was not 50 much motive rs an
unvielding combination of CircumStan-
ccs that forced upon him the hermit S
lot. Thirteen years ago the jewellers
upon the bank of the Miami and Erie
canal near Hamilton, Ohio, found them
selves in possession of Il new ncighbOr
in the shape of the craft Willie, which,
it subsequently proved, had come to
stay.'
Stephen Price, its owner. was born
of Scotch-IrjSh parcntage in MillcreeE
township. Hamilton county, in 1912.
What little schooling he received was
in that county, but his parents being
poor he had to start out to carr his own
living at a very early age. After chop
ping wood and working in the neigh
borh0od until about 1929, he started
boating in 1871 on the Miami and Erie
canal, making his run from Cincinnati
to Toledo. from there to Lafayette and
back. He saved enough of his earnings
to purchase 4 boat, and soon replaced
it with Il newer and better one. From
the tine he became the owner of a
craft he assumed the position Of cap
tain. In 1916 he was married at Gin
cjnnati to a Miss Prone, who has been
dead some thirty years, The last boat
be owned was the Willie, of st. Bernard.
This boat he ran until, as he says,
his eYesight became so poor that he
could not see at nighttime to take his
post on at the helm, and so in 1874,
having some $3.50, he tied her up on
the BERNIE bank in Fairfield township,
BY economy and doing his own house
keeping he was enabled to live comfort
ably and cOntented for several years in
the aft cabin of his boat. His money
finally gave out, but he was too proud
to beg OF to seek relief at the hands of
the public, and SO he commenced to tear
out the sound planking and timbers of
his boat, and these he sold from tim e
to time, and with the proceeds procur-
ed bread.
Finally the old BOAT was stripped of
I'LL its salable timbers, and then kind
neighbOrs would send him over sup.
plies. Time and again he was solicited
to 60 up to the intirmary, where he
would be warm and comfortable, but
he SO loved his old boat, or so much as
was left of it, that he preferred the
hardships and privatiOns of the cold
winter in his uncomfortable quarters to
leaving the dear old hulk. For a long
time he kept warm and did his cooking
from wood chopped from the boat,
until finally nothing was left but the
bare shell or the real cabin. Then he
would walk a mile or so to a mill and
carry home corn-ccbs which were given
him. How the poor old man ever
lived through the cold nights of the past
winter, when the thermometer regis
tered, on several days and nights, som
six degrees below zero is a mystery.
He had but scanty clothing and no
underwear, while an old ragged,
threadbare blanket and a still more
worn cOverlid constituted his entire
be~d-covering. When asked if he kept
his fire up all night he replied that he
could not, for the reason he could not
carry cobs enough in the day to burn
all night. He said it was pretty cold,
and many a morning when he awoke
the interior of the cabin was white and
fest0oned with white frost. He read
a great deal, and in this way passed
his time, and when not reading in re-
calling and living over the past. One
cold afternoon he was finally induced to
go up to the infirmary, which stands
within a half mile of his boat, and in
full view. He was admitted at 5
o'clock, and when the supper bell was
rung he was missing. In the morning
he was found back in the little old cab
in. as'happy as any prince in a palace.
Finally it grew so cold that he was q
second time induced to go up on the
hill, when, after a bath, and dressed
comfortably in new and warm clothing,
and refreshed by a hot supper, he con-
cluded to remain, provided he was per-
mitted to revisit his old home. as he
called the relic. He makes pilgrima-
ges to the boat about every two or
three days, 1t was decided at one
time to burn the cabin, but as il APP
pears the one link connecting the old
man with the past, it was feared the
result might hasten his death, so 1t has
been allowed to stand.
Grow Mora Eruit